Friday, April 18, 2008

A Ravelversary Contest!

My brother is the king of neologisms. He has mastered the art of creating hilarious words that instantly seem at once insane and indispensable. In his former back yard we had drinks in the 'yogazebo', a structure that would be perfect for yoga if either one of us were even remotely interested in physical activity. He talks about having 'snackitude', that is, a snack-positive attitude (we both have it). And the B-52's are a 'party-centric' band, an element that makes the Darling Resident Marxist Curmudgeon write them off. Now I've come up with my very own made -up word with a meaning all its' own: Ravelversary!This month represents a year that I have been on Ravelry and experiencing the endlessly mind-blowing elements that it has to offer. It is my Ravelversary. Just when you think you have discovered everything there is to love about Ravelry, you come upon a new feature that is suddenly indispensable. I have recently mentioned the 'friend activity' button and the new worlds it has opened up for me. Now I want you to tell me about your favorite new aspect of Ravelry and leave a comment on this post before midnight on 4/23, at which time I'll draw a random winner. Your prize? The above-pictured yarn souvenir from the Phildar shop in Montpellier. This was the only souvenir I purchased on my recent trip to France (except for the scads o' cash that I spent in the pharmacie on French shampoo and effervescent vitamins, but that doesn't count) and I want one of you to have it!So, what is your new fave Ravpplication? How do you Ravelfy these days? Don't be a Ravtard and answer the question...

70 comments:

My favorite feature of Ravelry is all the users. I love how Ravelry is a community. I have made many friends on Ravelry, and we are all willing to help one another. To me that is the best feature, bringing together knitters from around the world into a community.

wow, favorite rav-apps. I love searching for projects for a yarn that somehow managed to make its way home with me. I no longer feel so guilty about random stash this way. I love finding all of the new etsy shops that I didn't know about. I'm on Ravelry more than I'm knitting but that's ok, I love learning and sharing and it is the one area where I feel the most "me" and not just someone's boss, co-worker, daughter or mother.

That's a good question. There are so many reasons to love Ravelry, it's tough to choose just one. I think I'll have to go with the fnawesome (that would be "freaking awesome") experimental pattern search. I LOVE THIS FEATURE. I have a wonky gauge and NEVER get the same gauge as a pattern calls for, and as a beginner knitter, I sometimes get frustrated trying to get the correct gauge. With the experimental pattern search, I can search by MY gauge and MY needle size to find dozens of patterns that are right for me. Recently I found a beautiful skein of Mountain Colors Merino Ribbon and the colors were perfect for my four year old daughter, but I had no idea what to make from her (aside from the obvious scarf...I wanted her to have something summer-y). I searched for "one skein" projects and voila! Pages and pages of patters popped up. This is the coolest feature I have ever seen, I LOVE it!

My favorite Ravapp is the fact that (1) you can search by a specific yarn and see the projects that other users have done with it and (2) that there's always help available 24/7 (because most likely someone has run into your same problem whether it be a technique or a pattern question). I also like how you can see what your friends are up to by clicking the friend's activity tab :D

Sorry, had to delete my earlier comment 'cause I didn't follow the directions! A new app that I love is in the pattern search. Sometimes when I've found a pattern I like, it's only available in a book. There's certainly the option of buying the book with one click to amazon.com, BUT there also is a link to my local library's database! Awesome.

Happy Ravelversary (I'm jealous that you've been raveled for a whole year!)

My new guilty pleasure is the Radar tab (Forums --> Radar). You can watch all the comments to the all the groups scroll up live. It's fun to watch and strangely addictive. It makes you realize how huge Ravelry is because you discover all these groups and discussions going on that you never knew existed. It is a little like eavesdropping but it's fun.

OK, not really a new feature, but I've just recently discovered it...I like the watch thread tool. I would find interesting threads or one that involved a technique or project I was about to start on and then I would lose it! Not anymore! I've also just really started using the yarn browser tool to help me come up with ideas for yarns to use on projects that I don't already have the yarn for. Be careful with the friend activity btw, it can add LOTS of new things to your queue/favorites list! :wink:

What I love is checking out modeled shots of FO's for patterns I'm considering. I can judge whether said garment would look "ravishing" or "ravoling" on me based on photos of women with a similar body type (what I like to call the "extreme pear" body shape).

Huh?! There is an actual Phildar store?! Yowza! My favorite new feature is that you can now download pdf files to your library and will soon be able to store your own pdf files there. No more fear of losing valuable files from my own laptop or flash drive. But, honestly, isn't it all great?!

I love the Yarn and Pattern searches the most. When I buy yarn on a whim and can't figure out what to do with it, the Yarn search provides me with dozens of possibilities. The same goes for the Pattern search when I love a pattern, but don't particularly care for the yarn paired with it. Thanks to Ravelry, I have a huge to-knit list and my yarn stash has doubled.

I started blogging about the 'friend activity' button back in December, lol. It's still my fave, although I admit from time to time I zone out watching the new FOs roll in - click "people," then where it says "show us your fos" click "see more new fos." Mesmerizing!!

I am enamored with many of the features, one of which is the queue. Used to be I'd download patterns, hoping I'd remember where they were when I wanted to make the project, or I'd bookmark links and wonder what they were later if I didn't clearly name them. The thumbnails are wonderful.

The yarn-stash feature saved a project, though, when I was able to find someone with the same colorway for sale when I was running out of yarn and it was discontinued.

I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but my secretly favorite app is being able to "disagree" (or "agree") to a post in the forums. At last, a way to make yourself known (anonymously!) when someone writes something ridiculous! Makes one feel anonymously vindicated. Ha. (And let Kim know that there are plenty of Phildar stores everywhere in France. My grand-aunt and great-uncle had a franchise outside of Paris!).

I love, love, love the new pattern search. I keep getting sucked into all the amazing patterns, then getting sucked into seeing how it looks in everyone's different colours and yarns. And then the forums... oh, the forums. A whole new time sucking medium. So much to love. Happy Ravelversary!

Besides the obvious (yarn and pattern searches), I really enjoy refreshing the People page to see new random favorites appear. They are different each time, and I will pick one to click on and then come back to more different favs. I can do this for quite a while. And, yeah, I also love Friend Activity -- what a convenience!

I love ravelry because of the way it brings people together. I just moved from Southern California to Pacific Northwest and on my first week here, after telling people I was moving, fellow ravelrers welcomed me and even visited me and I got to go to one of their meetings. It has been an immense help getting settled in. I love ravelry - how did we ever manage without it?

(Well, nowadays I get nothing done as I sit on my computer and browse ravelry all day!) :D

Where to start?! I love Ravelry for encouraging me to try new things. I've been wanting to try spinning for a long time and it wasn't until searching the forums and finding other beginner spinners that I was encouraged to knuckle down and get to it!! Of course, now that I've started spinning my own yarn, I have wonderful people to show my new yarns to, and an easy way to search great projects to use it for.

I should also add that it's wonderful to see Casey and Jess (and Bob) be so involved in the community. They're not just mystery people who created the phenomenon, they're fully accessible, which is rare and much appreciated.

My new favorite Ravelry feature is the friends activity button which you so kindly mentioned the other day on your blog. I had never heard of it and had to check it out right away and now use it all the time. I use Ravelry mostly to organize my knitting but have recently been enjoying talking to all the people whos blogs I read and who read mine.You can find me on Ravelry as knittingpanda87.

I love the knowledge base. It doesn't matter what it is I need to know, I can post a question on Ravelry and get answers. I can ask about a pattern, a yarn, a stitch, a technique. I can ask about knitting, crocheting, felting, dying or any other aspect of fibre art. There is someone at Ravelry that will have the knowledge!

I love the community I have become a part of. I also love the pattern and yarn browsers. Just about every feature that I never knew I needed is a marvel. Casey has a brilliant mind (and he's pretty cute to boot!)

Well, I am a sucker for a blog contest.....My new favorite thing is selecting a pattern to look at, then narrowing it down to finished objects, then narrowing it down even more by typing a certain thing in the search field (like 'blue' for instance). That way, I can see what the FO will look like in the exact yarn and color I want. Happy Ravelversary!

The best NEW feature is the newest addition to forum threads: search this thread and report a post. I especially like that reporting the post just means marking it with a sad face for Casey et al. to see, as opposed to "telling" on someone.

I'm recently obesessed with the friend's activity page- it's given me many queue ideas that I never would've known I needed to knit...But I also love looking at other's finished objects in a pattern I'm considering, or working on, or even the ones I've designed.

I think the whole concept is raveliscious!! A network and community with ideas and inspiration to share, wisdom and experience to offer and of course -FREE PATTERNS! FREE EXPERT ADVICE! Wise and wonderful recommendations, not to mention all the enabling and support for your addictions that one could possibly need. I find looking at finished projects in all their permutations and incarnations and different yarns and colourways a great source of ideas for a particular pattern that you are envisioning or creating. So helpful in making decisions about what is next on the ravelradar. (or.. is it Ravel raider???))

ok, I am new. new to knitting and ravelry, But I love it. I love that I can look at patterns all in one place and cheeck patterns where ever I go. I love that I can see F.O's of what I am knitting and see that I am doing it right.

The thing I absolutely love is when you go to start a thread on a forum and type in a subject, it automatically searches for related posts. How awesome is that? You don't have to repost a thread, and might get your answer all quick-like.

My favorite feature is the ability to narrow the search (experimental search) by gauge and needle size. I'm also a big fan of what friends are doing. I really miss the people who could be your friends (projects in common) feature.

My favorite thing whatsoever, since I started on Ravelry, has been the what-other-people-did feature; whether it's with a yarn or a pattern, I like to see who knit what, what yarn they used, how it turned out, what colors, etc. I spend HOURS looking at the projects. Seriously.

I agree with Yvonne. I love looking at the many ways people have done a pattern -- what yarn they've used, what needles, how they've modified it, etc.

Would you believe that only two days ago I figured out how to reorganize my forum and group boards? Now I have like five or six tabs, and it makes it so much easier to skim over them and see what's up. Maybe now I won't be the last one to the party when something big happens on Ravelry.

I love the radar, and also the technical threads, and the pics of how other people interpret patterns in different yarns and colours. I also like reading the threads where peeps have a good ol' whinge about something or someone (hangs head in shame).

I'm a little slow when it comes to technology. I don't deal well with all the buttons. After you mentioned the "friends activity" think last time, I checked it out. And then I noticed the...um..."queue" button. I told you I'm a little slow. Definitely, flat out, the coolest knitting application ever!

I love Ravelry and all that it has to offer. I think my favorite thing is the experimental pattern search. I have to admit that I get so caught up at looking at things on Rav that I don't knit as much as I used to. Humm need some program to make the computer work with my voice so I can knit and Ravelsurf! I think I am in need of help. I am a Ravaholic. Happy Ravelversary!

You know, I just noticed my ravelversary (LOVE that word) was this month - although I find it hard to believe it's been a year already.

The best part of ravelry, for me, is the ability to search patterns and to see all the raveler's versions of patterns. It gives me new ideas, helps with yarn selection and really helps me figure out if the pattern is right for me to knit - soooo valuable.

There are so many things to love about Ravelry. I'm really having a good time with the experimental pattern search right now - I'm finding patterns I love that are things I never would have even considered otherwise.

But I have to say that the forums have been great to me as well - because through them I found and keep up with a wonderful local group of knitters. Nothing better than a Saturday afternoon of laughter, coffee and knitting!

What a great idea for a contest! I am a grad student so don't have time to spend as many hours on Ravelry as I'd like, so all these little tips are great to know! For me, I think the thing I love the most about Ravelry is the organization tools that keep getting better and better. You can favorite actual yarn as well as projects, you can tag projects in your favorites and search on those (my favorites are out of control!), you can now download patterns directly from Ravelry...all this instead of having hundreds of bookmarks, clipped blog posts etc. Such an amazing resource that Casey and Jess have developed!

So many things to love about Ravelry: the friends function, the bazillion crazy groups, the cue function, etc. My favorite is the pattern search. I like to check out how the project looks in real life on real people and see yarn subs, etc. Love your bro's made-up words. My new favorite made-up word (I take no credit; someone e-mailed it to me) is "ignoranus." An ignoranus is someone who is ignorant and an asshole!

My favorite Ravpplication would have to be the Friend Ravtivity (activity). I'm with you on that one! I love to see what all my friends have discovered and are queueing. Also totally love that new "yarn from stash" button when adding projects to your notebook. Ravelry rocks!

The friend activity tab is definitely my favorite. But I've become absurdly fond of checking the projects pages for yarns I bought just because I *had* to have them. It's so inspiring, and gives me hours of daydreaming pleasure. (Current favorites: The tank tops MintyFresh did with her Brooks Farm Acero, which I picked up at Rhinebeck last fall.)

You're too funny. Happy Ravelversary! I love being able to look up any pattern that I'm interested in and seeing all the different variations. I also love plugging in my yarn and seeing what others have knit with it!

Ooh, this is a fabulous conversation to be having! My favorite ravelapp (rapplication?) right now is probably the newish "yarns" tab on any given pattern page. You know the tabs at the top where you can click to see who has made it, any blog entries, and whatnot? I like snooping through the "yarns" tab to see if I can destash or sub to make casting on for something new a little less guilt-inducting.

Recently I have loved that you can search peoples' stash for yarn in your dye lot when you are running out. No one happened to have it this time, but many many lovely ladies searched their stashes to find the dye lot I was looking for... the effort is lovely, and the Ravpplication I believe is priceless, even when it doesn't quite get you there.